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Ira Flatow, host of National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation: Science Friday, spoke at the AGU Presidential Forum, reminding us why we need to communicate science clearly and effectively. Credit: Laura Naranjo
If NSIDC scientists are busy all year long conducting their own research, how do they keep up with what their colleagues elsewhere are doing? They exchange flurries of emails and phone calls, of course, and collaborate on journal articles and projects. But once a year, many of them are in the same place at the same time for the same reason: to attend the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). Whether you’re interested in glaciers or geoids, sea ice or plate tectonics, Earth or Mars, AGU is right up your alley. Each year, more than 20,000 scientists, students, and educators converge in San Francisco for the weeklong meeting. Many of NSIDC’s staff participate in the meeting as well, presenting talks and posters detailing their latest research, data, and success stories.
Collaboration and the cryosphere
The meeting turns out to be a great place to run into normally-distant colleagues and discuss your research or hatch future collaborations. Scientists and project managers from around the globe also take advantage of AGU to coordinate with each other in person, saving the time and expense of setting up a separate meeting. Town Hall meetings provide government agencies, academic programs, and special projects with a forum to gather input from AGU attendees and convey information, which helps funding agencies set their priorities. NSIDC’s booth is also a big draw at the exhibit hall, where we feature some of our most recent and popular products. Talking with hundreds of meeting attendees helps us determine what kinds of data people are looking for, and how we can help them find what they need to conduct their research.
The variety of opportunities at AGU also fosters numerous informal meetings, whether we’re mingling between talks or at events like the Cryosphere Reception. This is often where new ideas can foment that would never come up in the more formal structure of science talks or project meetings. It is also a place to discuss better ways to improve understanding of science by students and the public and to communicate the latest science news at media briefings.
Among the cryosphere sessions, Greenland’s dramatic summer melt was a hot topic, as was sea ice, the effects of atmospheric carbon, and thawing permafrost. This year’s Nye lecture, one of the cryospheric highlights of the meeting, featured Elizabeth Morris of the Scott Polar Research Institute. Her talk, “Hot ice and wondrous strange snow: three-phase mixtures or something more?” delved into the process behind the science, how researchers study things in the field and then make that information useful in broader scientific contexts. The Nye lecture is just one of several plenary lectures that touch on a variety of disciplines, such as oceans, volcanism, and atmospheres.
Something for everyone
The first annual AGU Open Mic Night: Tall Tales and Earth Sonnets, hosted by cryospheric expert Richard Alley, drew a crowd from all disciplines. Credit: Laura Naranjo
No matter what your discipline, AGU has something for everyone. Award-winning journalist Ira Flatow, host of National Public Radio’s “Talk of the Nation: Science Friday” program, spoke at the AGU presidential forum. He reminded all of us why science—and communicating that science clearly—is more important than ever. And the first annual AGU Open Mic Night: Tall Tales and Earth Sonnets, hosted by cryosphere expert Richard Alley, was a stratospheric success. If you didn’t get there early enough to get a chair, it was standing-room only.
Even when science is conducted in a vacuum, it’s never really conducted in a vacuum. The energy and synergy of ideas that occurs at AGU keeps us coming back. We’ll see you next year.
References
American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting Web site
AGU Video on Demand, including the Nye Lecture and the Presidential Forum featuring Ira Flatow’s talk
NSIDC science at AGU highlights Arctic sea ice, permafrost carbon, and Antarctic ice sheets
